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Home / PressRooms / Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks at conclusion of the COP24, (delivered by Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change) in Katowice on 15 December:

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks at conclusion of the COP24, (delivered by Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change) in Katowice on 15 December:15 December 2018

15 December 2018

UNIC/PRESS RELEASE/222-2018

FROM THE UN SECRETARY-GENERAL

COP24

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks at conclusion of the COP24, (delivered by Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change) in Katowice on 15 December:

I’d first like to thank the Presidency of the COP for the enormous efforts it deployed to organize this 24th session in Katowice, Poland.

I also want to acknowledge the tireless work of Patricia Espinosa, the Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC [UN Framework Convention on Climate Change], as well as of her staff throughout this session.

And I of course want to thank all Member States for their commitment and dedication which was once again demonstrated through countless long hours of work here during the last few days.

Katowice has shown once more the resilience of the Paris Agreement – our solid roadmap for climate action.

The approval of the Paris Agreement Work Programme is the basis for a transformative process which will require strengthened ambition from the international community. Science has clearly shown that we need enhanced ambition to defeat climate change.

Ambition in mitigation. Ambition in adaptation. Ambition in finance. Ambition in technical cooperation and capacity building. Ambition in technological innovation.

Ambition will be at the centre of the Climate Summit that I will convene in September 2019.

And ambition must guide all Member States as they prepare their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) for 2020 to reverse the present trend in which climate change is still running faster than us.

It is our duty to reach for more and I count on all of you to raise ambitions so that we can beat back climate change.